The legend of Stein

Stein c.1978, on the training ground

It's 25 years yesterday since the death of legendary manager Jock Stein. Though hardly a fan of the Old Firm, my earliest footballing memory (the first match that had me glued to the telly, the season before I saw Jimmy Sirrell's Brentford, my grandfather's team, take on his soon-to-be charges Notts County in my debut live game, at Griffin Park) was Celtic's 1967 European Cup triumph on 25 May.

The 'Lions of Lisbon' triumphed 2-1 over favourites Internazionale Milan in front of some 70,000 people at the Portuguese National Stadium in Lisbon, to become the first British club to take the ultimate European honour. It certainly helped to forge my love of Scottish football. Two years later, having dallied with Manchester United, tempted by the wizardry of my boyhood hero Denis Law, I cast my lot in with Dumbarton... and the rest is history - albeit of the obscure kind!

In terms of managerial giants, Stein is definitely up there with Brian Clough. Though an equally larger-than-life figure, he was far more considered and restrained. Writer and academic Bob Crampsey, also sadly no longer with us (and perhaps the leading historian and advocate of the Scottish game in recent times), once said of Jock that he was "the most powerful intelligence I ever met". In a strange way the difference between the two is encapsulated by the fact that they both managed an unruly Leeds United for 44 days. But whereas Clough's  was a reign that ended in ignominy, Stein left to take the reins of Scotland. Poignantly, his passing came at a moment of genuine triumph: under his tutelage, the Scots team had secured a 1-1 draw with Wales at Ninian Park to clinch a World Cup play-off place against Australia, with the prize at stake a place at the 1986 finals in Mexico.

"We went from one extreme of emotions to the other that night," former Dumbarton and Everton hero Graeme Sharp, who played that night, told The Scotsman. "On the pitch, when the final whistle went, we were delighted to have got to the World Cup play-offs, we were elated. We were unaware of what had happened with Jock until we got back to the dressing room. At first we thought it might not have been too bad but there were whispers that it was and then we were told he had passed away. There was such a sense of shock among the players and backroom staff. I was staying with Andy Gray that night and when we drove home we were still in a state of shock."

Appropriately,  Scotland held one minute of applause to mark the 25th anniversary of Stein's death, just before Tuesday's Euro 2012 qualifier against Liechtenstein at Hampden Park.  The display hardly fitted his memory, but at least a 2-1 victory was grasped, albeit in the 97th minute.

Undoubtedly the greatest encounter between Jock's Celtic and Dumbarton was in 1970, when the Sons took the Hoops to the edge in the replayed semi-final of the Scottish League Cup, 0-0 after extra time on 7 October, and 3-4 on 12 October. Stein was, of course, very willing to pay tribute to the endeavours of the minnows from Boghead. He represents a style, approach and set of football values that we very much need in the modern game.
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First published in The Grecian, 16 August 2008, Exeter City -v- Shrewsbury Town, Football League Division Two.

Here we are at last, back with the Football League on home soil. There have been moments over the summer, and even immediately after the final whistle blew at Wembley on 18 May, when I’ve wondered whether someone will pinch me and I’ll discover it’s all been a dream.

To be honest, teams with which I have an association are much more likely to do Distasterville than Dreamland. So even after Rob Edwards had nodded us ahead, the last ball had been kicked and the wild celebrations had begun, it still took a bit of time to sink in.

Thankfully, Exeter City’s footballing life is not quite like Bobby Ewing’s implausible re-appearance in Dallas (a giant step beyond reality), and that means the all-too-real demands of Coca Cola League Two are now upon us.

Shrewsbury Town, our rivals this afternoon, can certainly testify just how tough it can be in this division. Nonetheless, the Grecians’ aim for the season is more than mere survival. For this is a team on the march forwards.

That much was clear from the highly professional way Paul Tisdale and the boys handled the trip to Wembley, from the signings made and the contracts secured over the close season, and from the guts the side has shown thus far. Not everything is going ECFC’s way, but our way is to keep on going.

Nothing proved this more than that second leg Blue Square play-off semi-final at Plainmoor three months ago. At 3-1 down on aggregate against Torquay, and with just over 20 minutes to go, many teams would have caved in and missed the Wembley ticket.

But the Grecians kept on pressing and claimed four goals to achieve a truly amazing turnaround in fortunes. It’s a match that will stay in my memory, and that of many others, for as long as we live.

However, as the manager remarked immediately afterwards, it would all have counted for nothing without a further decisive push against a tough Cambridge United side in the Final. Likewise, if the Grecians can’t cut it in League Two, that triumph will look more like a false dawn.

I don’t believe this is how things will pan out, however. Football is all about the moment, but it’s also about momentum. That’s something that requires courage and determination as well as skill – qualities which ECFC have already demonstrated.

With Tisdale at the helm, a Trust that has proved it can go the second mile, an eager group of players (established and new) and a committed backroom staff, Exeter City has the recipe to succeed.

What we require now is to capitalise on talent with hard work, to find that crucial twist of luck, and to continue the surge of support from the fans, both home and away, that can carry the team forward when things are going less than smoothly.

The shorthand for all this is ‘character’. One who has definitely shown us what that means is veteran Rob Edwards. Not long after he signed a two-year deal in 2006, the sceptics had their knives out. He proved them wrong by becoming Player of the Season and then going on to secure the vital goal at Wembley, offering dependability and experience along the way.

One moment said it all for me. In the TV interview he gave immediately after helping secure Exeter’s League status, Rob first took time to express recognition to worthy opponents in their painful moment of loss. That’s an attitude worth having. As Cloughie once put it: “Winning, yes, of course – but winning better.”
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Making peace with Ol' Big 'Ed

The Damned Utd is David Peace's mesmerising blend of fact and fiction, tracking the mental turmoil of Brian Clough as he embarks on 44 ill-fated days as manager of the club he hated most, Leeds United -- along with the torments and joys of his first coaching job. It's engaging, dark, funny, witty, provocative and numbing, all at the same time. Peace features on ITV's The South Bank Show with Melvyn Bragg at 10.50pm tonight (or thereabouts, depending on your location). We are also promised a wider look at football writing. Peace was profiled in The Guardian yesterday.

Oh yes, while I think about it, congratulations to Nottingham Forest for making it back into the Championship (or Division Two, as some of us still call it). My Ekklesia co-director and friend Jonathan Bartley is a fan from his college days. I've always had a soft spot for the Forest, and indeed for dear, departed, delightful, despotic Cloughie. Back in my days as a current affairs editor, I once sent a photographer to take a picture of him down at the City ground. The poor bloke had long hair and an earring. That photo cost him a "right wigging" from Our Brian, as you might expect!
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